Essential Studio 2015 Volume 4 Released

Syncfusion has released Essential Studio 2015 Volume 4, the final volume update of the 2015 development year. This release cumulates dozens of new features for JavaScript, Android, iOS, ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, and Xamarin, with an emphasis on greater data visualization options for mobile and web development.

Syncfusion’s well-established line of file format libraries has received two significant enhancements. First, the PDF viewer library is now available for JavaScript development. It is a native HTML5 viewer that allows PDF documents to be displayed and printed without any dependency on Adobe. The PDF viewer for JavaScript is currently available as a preview release as we continue to add features to it and receive feedback from users. Second, Essential Presentation has been approved for official release. Essential Presentation is the first library from Syncfusion designed to read, write, and modify Microsoft PowerPoint files. It supports charts, bulleted lists, numbered lists, tables, and many other common features in PowerPoint presentations, and now supports SmartArt diagrams as well.

Along with the addition of the PDF viewer, many JavaScript controls have grown to include notable new features. A waterfall series type has been added to the chart component for displaying the effects of incremental changes to a charted value, making it a great fit for financial applications. PDF exporting is now supported in the schedule control, and the spreadsheet control supports virtualization for loading large amounts of data into its view.

Mobile developers working with Android, iOS, and Xamarin now have a date-time range navigator control at their disposal to allow end-users to filter a specific range of data from a larger one. Its rich feature set includes auto-interval calculation, tooltips, interactive range selection, smart labels, and more. Cross-platform mobile developers working specifically with Xamarin.Forms, Xamarin.Android, and Xamarin.iOS can try out a variety of new features for the chart control. These include a new step line series, logarithmic axis support for plotting extremely large numbers, vertical charts, and smart labels in pie charts that avoid overlapping.

Xamarin.Forms developers can also implement a new schedule control in their apps. The schedule control provides an interface similar to the Google calendar app to give end users an intuitive, familiar experience. Users can create and edit appointments, set recurring appointments, and view the schedule in day, week, workweek, and month views. Interactions with the control such as selection and navigation are powered by robust gesture-friendly interface, and the UI also supports localization to make the control accessible to any user base around the world.

This is only a fraction of the new features available to you right now. Dozens of updates have also been released for WPF, Windows Forms, WinRT, and Essential Predictive Analytics. For a complete list of everything that’s included in Essential Studio 2015 Volume 4, read What’s New. If you’re already a Syncfusion user, you can download the updates by logging in to Direct-Trac. If you have yet to become a Syncfusionite, download a free, 30-day trial of Essential Studio today to explore everything you can do with Syncfusion components. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re a one-dev startup or part of a multinational corporation. If you’re particularly excited about certain features, we’d love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter and Facebook.